Help send this award-winning poet + writer to the
2026 Macondo Writers Workshop so she can be part of the notable alumni network with prize-winning books
Jen is selected as 1 of 29
writers to attend the prestigious summer workshop founded by Sandra Cisneros, with a powerful 31-year community of writers
- Jen is a multi-genre writer selected by Macondo (upon her first effort with this highly competitive application!) and assigned to faculty mentor Marilyn Chin (Chancellor at the Academy of American Poets).
- Macondo’s writing community consists of 200+ active community leaders, including prestigious faculty and award-winning alumni. Jen’s literary career will be much stronger with this community boosting her.
- Projects she’s working on:
- a hybrid non-fiction book finding humor and spirituality responding to grief after her dog’s death
- poetry book of cultural translation and family stories of Mahjong
- a literary fiction project: a love story between two queer daughters struggling with their immigrant family dramas and navigating San Francisco in the late 1990s.
Help raise $1578 for tuition fees due by May 31st.
For this 1-week writers workshop in San Antonio, TX, workshop fees ($855) and room + board ($723) are due to Trinity University by May 31st. Further support is needed to pay for travel costs and additional hotel but not due at this urgent date.
As a freelance teaching artist without a safety net, Jen needs your help through this fundraiser. She is an active community leader who volunteers her time for causes like food justice and teaching free classes. People donating $100+ will get a mention in the acknowledgements in her next publication.
Instead of GoFundMe which has transaction costs, please donate to Jen directly.
DONATE via Venmo or Zelle (no fees). Or use credit card via Paypal. Payment options here.
Hire Jen for coaching or teaching gigs and prepay before May 31st to support her tuition funds. Please refer Jen for gigs year-round. Commission custom poems, custom song parodies, or speechwriting with Jen. Payment before May 31st will help with tuition fees. Work will be performed after June 1st so she can focus on fundraising outreach.
If you donate $500+ and like to collect art, Los Angeles visual artist Lili Flores is offering this framed mixed-media original artwork (23″x29″), La águila real, as a thank you gift (availability depends on first request). If you live within 1-hour drive of the artist’s studio in West LA, Jen will personally deliver this piece after June 1st.
Donate with Amtrak points or hotel points to help support travel needs (to be arranged in June) for the workshop in July. She needs to arrive to San Antonio a few days early for her research about the Chinese American community and a meeting with award-winning restauranteur and chef Jennifer Dobbertin of Best Quality Daughter.
Jen has a sampling of literary education offerings on this website. If you have an idea not listed, we can discuss tailoring a workshop for your needs. The first exploratory consult (phone or video conference) is complimentary to assess your interests.
Sample educational offerings
Teaching
From youth to adults, Jen offers an interdisciplinary approach to improve creativity.
Coaching
From filmmakers to business experts, Jen offers coaching for a range of activities — public speaking, vocal coaching, artist statements, book outlines, branding, and book launches.
Feng Shui Poetry in the Parks
Jen was selected as a 2025 Poet Laureate Fellow with the Academy of American Poets. Her project “Feng Shui Poetry in the Parks” was in partnership with Bravo High School and you can read more about it in this LA Times article.
As a teaching artist, she facilitated field trips for the high school students to visit eco-education groups like Theodore Payne Foundation, Kuruvungna Springs, and TreePeople. Jen can design a nature + poetry event for youth and/or adults.
Sample clients of Jen’s teaching experience
Praise for Jen’s writing
“[Jen’s collection has] poems with directives, poems that drive us towards coalition, that remind us, if we survive this world, it will be by taking action towards a better one.”
— Asa Drake, a winner of the 2020 92Y Discovery Poetry Contest,
author of One Way to Listen
“[Jen’s] work reinvigorates the poetic with new, needed music.”
— Shonda Buchanan,
Award-winning author of Black Indian
“…beautiful and rare, [Jen’s poetry] speak in a voice as unique as the experiences written about.”
— Kim Dower
Second West Hollywood Poet Laureate
MORE ABOUT JEN CHENG
Jen Cheng (she/ella/kir) is the fifth West Hollywood City Poet Laureate (2023-2026) and author of Braided Spaces. She is a Poet Laureate Fellow with the Academy of American Poets with her project for high school students “Feng Shui Poetry in the Parks” which integrates eco-education with wellness and poetry. Cheng is a 2026 Macondista, a California Arts Council Fellow, and a Tin House Writers Workshop alumni. She was named one of the Top 50 LGBTQ+ Impact Leaders by LA Magazine (2025). Cheng’s writing is published in Passengers Journal, Colossus:Current, Altadena Poetry Review, L.A. Parent, and elsewhere.
JEN CHENG 